Horse boarding question

Question

Ok so this question is similar to one that I posted before. I just moved my horse into a new barn yesterday. Now I am debating whether or not to keep her in this stall, or bring her up to the upper barn (where she would be the only one there.

Main barn: Horses are only in their stalls for grain, then t/o together all day in a huge pen (14 horses total). She will be turned out with them in about 2-4wks after she gets used to the place. Con: she may get kicked, but or severely injured with these other horses.

Upper barn: She will have her own stall and own paddock to run freely in and out of. Con: she will be the only horse in the upper barn, but have pasture horses next to her. She is a people person, and without any interaction, I feel she may become depressed.

My horse is in her 30's.

Thank you for your suggestions and responses.

Answer 1

let her be out pasture with the other horses. Put the horse in the barn come winter as she is very old. Horses are herding animals and she will learn her picking order

Answer 2

Horses are very social animals and enjoy being in a herd. If they didn't they wouldn't do it in the wild. Let her live out her remaining years as nature intended. I think it's a great set up that they are turned out all day with their buddies and brought in for care and supplements. I wish my barn offered something like that.

Answer 3

I would try the main barn first.  If the other horses don't accept her, you may need to move her to the upper barn,  but she would probably be happier with a few bumps and bruises than left alone.

Can a second horse be moved to the upper barn with her?

Answer 4

This is what I would do if she were mine:

If she is not accustomed to being out with others, don't put her through it at this stage of the game. Her probability of injury is high and why put her through that? Leave her to enjoy her senor years in peace with a view of the other horses.

If she is used to herd life, they introduce her gradually into the new 'family' so that she can find her place in the pecking order. Even so, there is always drama associated with introducing new horses. At her age, I would think long and hard about her safety first.

The perfect solution would be to have her in the upper barn with a companion in the next stall/paddock.

I have many boarders at my place and can tell you that new horses alway take at least a month to acclimate to a new situation. It will be easier on her if you are there often to incorporate your usual routine of riding/grooming/etc into her new living arrangements. It helps ease the transition.

Answer 5

I would keep her in her own pasture being that she is in her thirtys as long as she can see the other horse she should be fine.and it would be safer for her.

Answer 6

Horses are herd animals, so are very social like people are. Would you like to spend your life living all by yourself? Most people would not, and I don't think you would like living in a room with glass windows with people living on the other side. This is an analogy to horses being in the other pasture with your horse living by herself.

The best situation is for a horse to live with other horses. Its great for a horse to have a healthy relationship with a human, but they also need contact with their own kind and are much happier that way. I cringe when I drive past a house that has one horse living all by him/herself.

I understand your concern about your horse getting kicked. I board my horses at a large facility with 65 horses and have requested my horses get moved from time to time because they were living with a group of aggressive horses that were kicking and biting all the time. That being said, most horses can fit in well enough with other horses to avoid serious injury.

That being said, I recently had a horse get killed because of this very issue. He was a gentle easy going horse and he got put in a barn area with a bunch of aggressive naughty boys. They were always picking on him, pushing him out of the way, kicking him, biting him, keeping him away from the hay stack. One day one of these aggressive horses went to kick him, and he went up in the air and landed on a pipe fence that cut him open. He bled to death before the vet got there.

So what I am trying to say. This is not a trivial issue, but horse company is an important concern. What I would suggest first is you inspect the area where your horse would be living with the other horses for hazards. Think about what happened to my horse and imagine if something like that could POSSIBLY happen to a horse living there. If so, bring up safety issues to the people that run the barn and suggest they fix it.

Second just go out and spend some time observing the horses your horse would be living with. Spend at least an hour and see how aggressive the horses really are. If these horses have a special feeding time like when grain is brought around, be sure and take some time out to watch them then. This will give you an idea of how the horses will behave around yours.

In conclusion I want to say that its very important for horses to be able to live with other horses if they have the opportunity to do so, but you need to carefully evaluate the situation to make sure other side issues will not impact the well being of your horse. Before my horse died I would have been like yeah just throw a horse in with a group of horses and let them get used to each other, but now I appreciate that this can be more important than it seems at first glance.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 7

Wow - 30!  What a special horse.

I don't think the answer is as cut and dried and it depends on what she's experienced in her life so far - if she's not been turned out with others very often, she probably hasn't developed a good social interaction with other horses (since you say she's a people person, maybe she doesn't think of herself as a lowly horse, but a person  ;-)  )

If she has been turned out with others mostly, that's a different story.

I am of a mind that horses should be allowed to be in as natural environment as possible to be kept safe and happy.  We humans have given horses human effects which has served to distance the horse from it's natural origins.  The idea that the horse may get kicked or otherwise hurt is definitely a possibility, but consider that a small scratch or bite while we don't like it, has been the result of a horse finding it's place socially in the herd.  Turn outs should be maximized for good health - hay fed outside and spread out as much as possible while confinement in a stall minimized due to dust and respiratory issues in low air movement.

With all that said, were I in your position, here's what I'd do:

If the mare hasn't been with other horses much, keep her to herself.

If she has been, allow her to get accustomed to the place and her stall, then try her while observed with the other horses.  If she's in imminent danger, remove her to her own paddock.

While being with the other horses COULD cause harm, the chances are not all that high as horses typically control the social order and communicate with each other through body language, only overly agressive ones actually contact another.  Also, her own paddock with adjoining fences and other horses could be just as unsafe if the common fence lines allow any type of unsafety - such as strikes across the fence allowing a horse's foot to get caught or cut.

I have a mare that wasn't with others until she was about 4.  I knew she had a very dominant "horsenality".  when I turned her out, sure enough although she was unconfident, she was quite a bully to others - she didn't endear herself to them.  But she's never gotten hurt and it's because the space is large enough to allow anyone to get away from anyone else - they can't get trapped and hurt each other.  She has gotten scrapes but I don't show so it doesn't bother me.  At first she got bites on the neck and kicks in the hip, but nothing that wouldn't heal - now she's not so mean to the others although she's retained her dominance factor.  I did find that she was causing a number of her own little scratches on her face - she learned to get on her knees and stick her head under a door to grab hay.  Now I've had to move the hay so she can't get to it because it's impossible to make the door longer so she can't get under it without it being unsafe if she lays down near it (her legs can get caught).

Good luck with this, I hope I've helped

Answer 8

1/  How often are you going to be able to visit her?

2/  Is the upper barn more expensive and if not, why can't they just move one of the other horses up from the main barn so that she will have company, even if it is across the fence?

3/  Would you be charged much, if anything to add a small goat as a companion for your mare?

4/  If your mare rides or you wouldn't mind someone else spending time with her in your absence, maybe you could do a trade off with someone who doesn't have a horse but has time and the inclination to spend some time with your mare.

5/  Would there be a possibility of your mare being in the main barn, but turned out alone, but where she can see and interact with the other horses?

6/  Do you know the make-up of the other horses that she would be turned out with?  mares/geldings?  temperaments? With a horse of that age, I sure wouldn't want to take a chance, as she may not recover from an injury that a younger horse would.

You are right when you say that they can just wither without companionship, even stop eating and do nothing but stand and pine away...I also have an aged gelding that almost stopped eating and would hang with the dogs next to their pen, just so that he wasn't alone when he slept...there was a lot of interaction with us in the daytime.  We bought a mini horse for his  companion, as the mini doesn't eat much, but has become a real buddy for our horse.  Things are great now and our horse has quit moping around.

Answer 9

I would keep her with the other horses.  She will be lonely by herself and frustrated that she can't join the others that she can see in the pasture.  There may be some knocks and bruises at first, but it sounds like a diverse group where she will be able to find her place with the older horses.  If she gets too banged up, you may need to reconsider, but I think she would be happier with the others.